Tag Archives: Evermay

Good morning Georgetown. GM’s still basking in his new world of diapers and short sleep, but is ready to get the Georgetown Metropolitan back in gear. He can’t guarantee that the posts will be as consistent as they have been, but he’ll promise the old college try. So without further ado, here’s the latest:

GM heard this a while back, but it looks like the GAP is finally moving to consolidate its kids store into its grown-up store across the street. No word yet on any possible new tenants for the soon-to-be vacated GAP Kids space.

The Post published a touching article on Sunday about the eventful past of the Belin family, which owned the grand Evermay estate from the 1920s until this year. It was initiated by the journalist’s desire to tell the story of Harry Belin, who, faced with a massive real estate tax and maintenance bill, was forced to sell his family’s jewel. But in catching up with Harry, the writer, Ian Shapira, found a man excavating fascinating stories of the family’s past.

Shapira writes:

The weather for Peter Belin’s flight home from Europe was largely serene. It was early in May 1937, and as touchdown in New Jersey approached, the recent Yale graduate snapped photos of the airport’s three-story hangar, the ground crew, and the stark, oval shadow of his mode of transportation, the Hindenburg zeppelin.

Moments later, after the crew flung down the landing ropes, an explosion rocked the Hindenburg’s rear. Peter grabbed his things — his datebook, his camera — and leapt from the doomed craft. He survived the 30-foot plunge…“He landed on a sandbank!?” Harry marveled, standing amid his basement archives, after finding a family letter. “I never heard about the sandbank.”

Having a father dramatically survive the Hindenburg disaster is just the start. Later Shapira writes that Harry’s grandfather bought a ticket on the Titanic before changing plans. Continue reading →

The Evermay estate, which has been up for sale since October of 2008, has just slashed its price again. Harry Belin started off asking $49 million for the historic property. By last April, however, he lowered the price to $39.5 million.

Besides Belin, who else might be a little bit disappointed about this? How about media mogul Robert Allbritton. Why him? Because he paid about that same amount of money for the Bowie-Sevier estate in 2007. Yes, the Bowie-Sevier estate is one of thenicest estates in Georgetown.

But it’s not Evermay.

All kidding aside, that’s a pretty dramatic price drop. At this rate it’ll be selling for $500k by the fall.

The Georgetown Metropolitan has been published since December of 2008. Over that time GM has announced a lot of new stores and restaurants or other new treats for Georgetown. The thing is, some of those ideas never saw the light of day. GM would like to list the names of those we never got to know:

Paul Restaurant

Capital Restaurant Concepts, the organization behind J. Paul’s, Neyla, Paolo’s and others, applied to turn the kitchen of the City Tavern Club into a French bakery called Paul Restaurant. While a placemark for the restaurant is still on the BID website, eleven months later and there are no signs of activity in the space.

Chance This Will Come to Fruition in 2010: Slim

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The Mad Butcher

In October of 2008, Jonathan Umbell of Hook and Tacklbox announced plans to open a full service butcher in the space next to Tacklebox. As described at the time, it would have been an awesome addition to Georgetown:

At The Mad Butcher, whole pigs and sides of cattle from local farmers would be brought in and prepared on site. There would be an aging room on the property to treat the meat. The business would sell uncooked meat, and a casual cafe and fine dining restaurant would serve it.

Unfortunately a deal couldn’t be struck for Umbell to buy the property. In June 2009 he told GM that he felt the moment may have passed and he wouldn’t consider opening up at a different location until the economy improved. Needless to say, but Georgetown is still butcher-less.